Stereo Jealousy

Gig of the week: Los Campesinos, The Hippodrome, Thursday 4 March

I fell in love with Los Campesinos at The Works in Kingston back in February 2008. This Thursday I return to the scene of the crime (the venue now bears the dreadful moniker The Hippodrome) to witness the band two years and three albums later. No doubt they’ll be excellent, after all all three LPs have their shining moments – their most recent, Romance Is Boring, containing some of their most successfully constructed tunes to date. The show is put on by the incomparable Banquet Records under their New Slang banner, bringing excellent bands to the otherwise barren south west suburbs of London. This year alone they’ve hosted Vampire Weekend, British Sea Power and last week, Blood Red Shoes. If you’re in the area, or even if you’re not, get yourself down here – cheap entry, cheap drinks, cheap thrills.

More centrally there are in-stores from Blood Red Shoes, Scary Mansion and Late of the Pier for those who like their thrills more free than cheap. For those who don’t mind paying don’t look much further than U.S. Girls at Cafe OTO on Monday – another cracker from Upset The Rhythm. Tuesday and Wednesday sees the fucking awesome xx play at Shepherd’s Bush Empire – supported by These New Puritans, who have never really filled my boots – or Esben & The Witch on the latter date. You could also catch Hot Hot Heat - remember them? – at Scala on Tuesday. If you’re not headed down to Kingston on Thursday there’s two spiffing options in town, Jealousy favourites Errors at Scala, and Wild Beasts at Koko. Yet again things dry up towards the end of the week, unless you’re plumping for the corporate cowshed and the Dizzee / Lily hoedown. Whatever you’re up to this week, enjoy – why not let us know about it!

Los Campesinos! – There Are Listed Buildings

Photo: Barry Yanowitz @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC, 12-07

Read on for all our recommended gigs this week.

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Gig Of The Week: Dum Dum Girls / MALE BONDING, Barden’s Boudoir, Thursday

A bumper, bumper week sees the return of our weekly gig guide to what’s happening on London’s live music scene. So bumper that I really struggled to pick a single gig – but the one that has come out on top is a cracker. Get yourselves down to Barden’s Boudoir on Thursday night to check out two of legendary label Sub Pop’s latest signings. From LA there is the awesome Dum Dum Girls, playing in advance of their debut full length, I Will Be, due out in March. Playing too are Dalston’s MALE BONDING – who recently rocked as support for the Vivian Girls on home turf at the Trinity Hall, Dalston. Both bring ferocious pace and lo-fi thrills to the party, expect it fast and loud and Barden’s is a great place to watch it unfold.

Sadly I’ll be missing the show in favour of the live return of Brighton’s Blood Red Shoes who play the regular New Slang show out in Kingston. Box Of Secrets was a joy for me, and remains a regular feature on my playlists and I cannot wait to see what their forthcoming sophomore LP, Fire Like This, will bring. Elsewhere, the ongoing rush of the NME Awards shows continues with New Young Pony Club headlining a bill that also includes the excellent Chew Lips and Teeth on Monday at the Islington Academy. Girls at Scala should be a riot too, and if you fancy something a little quieter try the Jagjaguwar showcase at the Windmill, Brixton on Tuesday. Two big shows in support of the ongoing Haiti Earthquake appeal are obviously for a good cause but the line ups are deeply uninspiring.

Brain-melters Ungdomskulen play The Lexington on Thursday – the busiest day of the week. You could also pick Los Campesinos! at Koko, but if like me you like things a bit more intimate – wait a week and catch them at New Slang, Shearwater (Scala), Casiokids (Barfly) or if you like things a but more retro try Pere Ubu at the Garage. Things slow down a bit as the weekend draws near but Friday sees Xiu Xiu rip up the Luminaire which has to be worth a view. If you’ve got nowt to do all day Saturday there’s an excellent one day festival – Owl Parliament – happening at Union Chapel. Featuring  Mount Eerie, Jeremy Walmsley, Aidan Moffat and Darren Hayman amongst others this should be a fantastic day, evening tickets are a little less than all-day ones. Finally, Hot Chip play a couple of nights down at the Brixton Academy.

Dum Dum Girls – Catholicked

Male Bonding – Rehearsal Song

Photo: MALE BONDING. Taken by Sebastián J @ Barden’s Boudoir, 20/12/09

If you’re struggling to find any of the venues listed, they’re all on our map of London’s gig venues and record shops – here. Read on for all our recommendations this week.

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So in what will hopefully be a regular feature here are some of the most interesting bits that have been sent through to us over the last week.

Shout Out Louds – Fall Hard (Passion Pit Remix)

A tempting taster for the Swedish group’s upcoming third LP, Merge, due out February 23 on Merge. Remixed by Jealousy favourites Passion Pit, this is a wonderful, subtle mix – stripping the track back a little, smoothing some of the edges – nothing extravagant or damaging. You can check out the video for the original below.

Young Adults – Rip It Up

A debut five track demo from this unsigned Allston, MA trio – a quintet of punchy yet fuzzy tunes, only one of which cracks the 3 minute mark. They kick off with the track flagged here, Rip It Up. Basically doing what it says on the tin it careers through it’s 110 seconds in the blink of an eye, guitars buzzing in the foreground – vocals set well back in the mix. Set somewhere between the sound of echoing surf punk and the chiming yet fractured guitar melodies of early 90s Manchester indie it’s an engaging ride. Check it out – you can download the entire EP from their Myspace here.

Ezequiel Ezequiel – Dear Permafrost

After the cold spell most of the Northern Hemisphere is having or has had, the Winter Rise EP from London based Argentinian Ezequiel Claverie (under the moniker Ezequiel Ezequiel) is aptly titled to say the least. Five tracks of intimate, intricate ambient folk with conjure up images of that feeling of being wrapped up against the cold; a musical log fire if you will. Best of all, you can get this for absolutely nothing from his website, here. Trust me – you’d be hard pushed to purchase much music this year that shines with such feeling and warmth.

If you’d like to send any stuff through, please find our email address over on the right, or check out the ‘About’ page.

#22: Metric – Fantasies

Metric self-released Fantasies across pretty much all the globe – Lord knows if they had too, after all it’s not as if Live It Out was a flop. In the four years since the Canadians unleashed that effort (they released their unpublished debut Grown Up And Blown Away in 2007) they honed their knack for anthemic, punchy indie pop. Fantasies is full of it, the most consistent record of their career thus far – and their second Polaris nomination. The pace barely lets up, from the growling opener Help I’m Alive through to the ever-so-aptly named Stadium Love each track is poised to make you dance. Fantasies gives the overall impression though, that next time round, Metric are going to need a much bigger dancefloor…

Metric – Stadium Love

Metric Myspace

Buy Fantasies

Photo: El Diano @ Metropolis, Montréal Canada, 10/09

For the last few weeks I’ve been away on vacation, my ipod safe and silent in the hotel. I was in Hong Kong and the only tunes I’ve heard have been almost anti-music to my ears, loads of dreadful Cantopop; well that and the songs in my head. Hong Kong as a city seemed dead to much else music wise, whilst there Muse played and I found one other underground gig. Most of the record shops I came across either dealt exclusively in walls of that bland nonsense, were closed (damn you White Noise – my shining beacon of hope!) or stocked acres of overpriced old jazz LPs.

Funny thing is, the songs that ran constantly through my mind whilst getting ready, jostling my way through the crowded streets or clambering up the nearest peak weren’t my top tracks. They were an odd selection of either things that were related to what I was looking at – Supergrass’ Moving whilst watching the shadows of clouds roll across the hills for example – or more often than not uber-catchy pop tunes from the eighties. What I find odd about this is that you’d think when deprived of music your mind would relate back to the songs you class as your favourites, instead it reverts to base values. I realise this has the potential to ruin my credentials (pah! – what credentials!) as a purveyor of music taste, but I found the strains of tracks like Roxette’s The Look blasting through the alleys of my brain. Why?!

I’m guessing it is just the catchiness of these pop nuggets that has lodged in there; after all that was the kind of pap that my folks would listen to in the car when travelling, they were the songs on the radio when I was growing up. Of course, there was some great pop from that decade – can you beat the Pet Shop Boys, The Human League, Frankie? – but why wasn’t I remembering that? Does our memory have a default setting to fill the aural void with songs from our earliest years? If so, surely it can’t have such bad taste – I want to remember the good stuff my folks brought me up on! To make it worse since I’ve got back I’m finding it hard to listen to music for any consistent period of time, almost like I’m having to re-train my mind into hearing recorded audio again.

Sorry for the ramble, back to the music next post – and trying to finish my best of ‘09!

Supergrass – Moving (mp3)

Roxette – The Look (mp3)